


wait 'til it's right

by coupe_de_foudre



Category: Justified
Genre: (kinda), 5+1 Things, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Raylan's POV, Secret Relationship, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24776227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coupe_de_foudre/pseuds/coupe_de_foudre
Summary: “Oh my God, he’s got a boyfriend!”“Wait, what?”Rachel rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you. He’s dating somebody!”Raylan scoffed. Tim didn’t date people.
Relationships: Boyd Crowder/Raylan Givens, Tim Gutterson/Jimmy Tolan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	wait 'til it's right

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Heather for the help/inspiration for this fic!! 
> 
> These two are my ride or die ship okay, I love them so much and you can rip them from my cold, dead hands.
> 
> This is pretty much a '5 times Raylan almost found out who Tim was dating and 1 time he finally sees the guy' fic.

“Hey, everything alright?” Tim asked, holding his phone up to his ear and swinging his legs up onto the edge of his desk. Raylan glances over from his computer, and Tim winks at him.

_‘Fuck you’_ Raylan mouths, shaking his head at Tim. Tim just smirks. Typical.

“Love you too!” Tim called to him. 

Straightening in his seat, Raylan’s about to shoot out some half-thought retort when Tim turns his attention back to his phone, rolling his eyes but not doing a great job at hiding the smile spreading over his face.

“No, bebé, not you! Yeah. Of course. Who else?” Tim laughs then, at whatever the person on the other end of the line says, and Raylan realises with a shock that he’s never actually heard Tim laugh. Not for real, anyway. Not like this; his eyes lighting up and throwing his head back with a face-splitting grin.

“Who’s he talking to?” Rachel leans over as Tim lets out another bark of laughter. 

Raylan shrugs, turning to Rachel but keeping an ear on their friend. “No idea.”

“That shit gets me hard. Oh, I know.” Tim speaks into his phone, lips quirking into a devilish smirk. “I fully intend to, querido.”

“Oh my God,” Rachel slapped his arm and Raylan jumped, “he’s got a boyfriend!”

“Wait, what?”

Rachel rolled her eyes, dropping back into her seat. “I’m telling you. He’s dating somebody!”

Raylan scoffed, going back to his computer. Tim didn’t date people. It’s been years and he’s only ever had meaningless hook-ups. Raylan should know; he used to be his top wing-man.

“I promise! Just have it ready for 7. If I’m late, I’ll make it up to you. Yes. On Lola's grave. Shut up!” Tim laughed again and Raylan watched as his face softened before saying, “Okay, seriously, I’ve got to go. También te amo.”

Tim ended the call, pocketing his phone and going back to the report he was working on without a glance their way. Rachel raised her eyebrow to Raylan in her signature ‘I told you so’ way.

_______

“I’m telling you, it happened!”

“Yeah, and my mother’s a ranting lesbian vomiting skittles at unicorns.” Tim drawled, pushing open the doors to the office with his hip so he could send Raylan his disapproving look. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Rachel scoffed, walking past them both. “Could've fooled me.”

“Hey! Just ‘cause you’re jealous of my baby smooth skin.”

Rachel flipped him off, heading for her desk. Raylan laughed, bumping Tim’s shoulder as he slid into his own seat. “Better luck next time, kid.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Oh, Tim-”

“Not now, Nelson, I’m plotting Raylan’s murder.”

Nelson paused at Tim’s desk, mouth agape as he glanced between Raylan and Tim. “I- uh...what?” When all he got in response was a smirk from Tim he decided to continue. “I just wanted to say some guy dropped your lunch off.”

Nelson gestured down to a tub of what looked to be potato salad and a BLT from the sandwich shop across the street. Raylan leaned over the partition between their desks to get a better look, eyebrows shooting up when he saw a little yellow sticky note with a hand drawn heart stuck to the lid of the tub.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Nelson avoided Tim’s eyes as he said, “He- uh...he wouldn't tell me his name or anything. Just asked for Gutterson's desk, dumped it and left. I don’t even know how he got in.”

Tim waved Nelson away, muttering a thanks as he peeled off the sticky note and smiled down at it. “Fucker.” he grumbled, tugging his lower lip between his teeth in a pointless attempt to avoid smiling as he stuck the note to the corner of his computer screen.

Raylan whistled, catching Tim’s attention. “Cute.”

Tim fixed him with a stern look, “Shut it, cowboy.”

Holding his hands up in surrender, shit-eating grin no doubt plastered over his face, Raylan settled into his chair and away from Tim.

_______

“You, Raylan Givens, are something else.” Boyd smiled, tucking his head into the crook between Raylan's shoulder and neck. Raylan chuckled, running a hand through his man's wild hair.

“I thought you already knew that?”

“Oh, I did.” Boyd twists to press a warm kiss to the soft skin of his throat. “I just forget sometimes.”

“Really? S'pose I should impress you more often th-” Raylan paused mid-sentence, lifting his gaze to glance over Boyd's head, “Is that Tim?”

“Hm?” Boyd shifts, looking in the direction Raylan had pointed. Across the bar, sat in a booth tucked away in a corner, was most definitely Tim. “Oh yeah.”

“He told me he had plans tonight! We were gonna get drinks with Rachel.” 

Boyd cleared his throat, eyes scanning the bar. “I hate to break it to you, boy, but you’re not everyone’s idea of a fun night out.”

Raylan huffed, glaring down at the man nestled into his side. 

“I don’t like you, Boyd.”

Boyd smirked, brushing his lips over Raylan’s cheek. “Never liked you much neither, Raylan.”

Glancing back over at Tim, Raylan took a final swig of his bourbon. “Should we invite him to join us?”

Boyd followed his gaze yet again, Tim having not noticed them yet and instead looking in the direction of the restrooms. With a small shake of his head, Boyd trailed his hand up the inside of Raylan’s thigh and smiled sweetly at him. “I can think of better ways to spend our night.”

Raylan matched his smile, dipping his head to capture Boyd's lips in a sweet but brief kiss. “I like the sound of that. C'mon then,” with a tug on Boyd's hand, the two of them were slipping out of the bar and if they didn’t make it home before pouncing on one another...well, that was obviously due to the alcohol.

_______

“You should’ve listened to me.” Raylan sighed, elbows propped on his knees and his head in his hands as Tim lay in the back of the ambulance, shoulder bloody and sore no doubt. 

Tim groaned, sounding pained but defiant nonetheless. “I’m a big boy. Can take care of myself.”

With a scoff, Raylan rose his head to glare at his friend. “If that were true, you wouldn’t have a damn bullet wound right now.”

“It would’ve hit the girl!”

“I don't-”

“You’re telling me you wouldn't have jumped in front of her?”

Raylan sighed. Tim was right. They both knew it.

That didn’t mean he had to be happy about the turn of events their case had taken. 

“Art’s not going to be happy about this.”

Tim smiled, weakly. “We got the guy, didn’t we?” Raylan smiled back, feeling the exhaustion kick in as his earlier adrenaline began to deep from his body.

After Tim had been shot, the fugitive catching one of his bullets at the same time, Raylan had been simply going through the motions; the ambulance and local police had been called, someone was treating the girl taken captive, he'd messaged Boyd to let him know what had happened and apologise over most definitely being late home and then come looking for his injured friend. He was ready to call it a day.

The EMT assigned to Tim climbed back into the open ambulance before either of them could speak again, holding a phone out and looking bewildered. 

“There’s an urgent call for you.” he explained, voice lilting at the end to sound more like he was questioning the statement as he passed over his own phone to Tim. 

Tim frowned, shifting uncomfortably to make a grab for said phone and hold it up to his ear. “Hello?”

Raylan couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line but he could just about make up the panicked shouts of somebody. Tim's face shifted from confusion to a grimace as he listened, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching at the space between them.

“Hey, hey, calm down, alright? I’m fine.” Tim stressed, “I promise. Uh-huh, yeah, I know. I’ve already heard it all from Raylan, trust me. But it’s my job, okay?”

There was a pause in the conversation and then the caller must have quietened down because Tim's frown melted into a soft smile. Raylan wanted nothing more, in that moment, than to know who his friend was talking to.

“Really? You went through all that trouble? Well, tell him I said thanks but also if he ever let’s you worry like that again I can and I _will_ beat his ass. You'd have been told if it was something serious.” Tim let out a weak laugh, balancing the phone between his good shoulder and ear so he would brush his hair from his face. “Well, I’m sure they’d find a way.”

Raylan met the EMT's gaze, who was keeping himself busy by checking on Tim’s bloods. The guy still looked confused and, honestly, Raylan was curious as to who had managed to track down his number just to talk to Tim. Raylan, personally, only knows a handful of people capable of finding information like that out.

Deciding that Tim should be fine; he'll be sent to the hospital for a bit and then free to recover at home, Raylan stood up. He still needed to drive back to Lexington and fill Art in on everything. 

Gently patting Tim's leg, Raylan manoeuvred his way out of the cramped ambulance with a quiet, “See you soon.”

Tim waved him off with a grateful smile before turning his attention back to the phone call, voice shifting into a warm tone. “Ven al hospital ¿Por favor? Te extraño hermosa.”

Raylan would rather not ponder on why Tim had switched into Spanish.

_______

  
Raylan was bored.

Five hours, twenty two minutes and counting. Sat in a car with Tim, long-ago finished coffee cups and empty granola bar wrappers littering the space between them.

He’s already exhausted Tim’s previously shared tactic of creating stories for their fugitives possible associates. All of which didn’t hold his interest for long.

And still, no sign of their guy.

With a glance to his left, and to no surprise, Raylan finds Tim texting like crazy on his phone – gentle blue glow lighting up his face under the moon’s light.

“Someone interesting?”

Tim glances up at that, bottom lip tugged between his teeth for a second. But, with another buzz from his phone, he's drawn back to whatever riveting conversation he’s having with little more than a non-committal hum in response. Really, that could mean anything.

Raylan is coming close to complaining like a petulant child, needing Tim’s weird comments and random unnecessary facts to keep him sane through the night, when a soft smile starts to spread across his friend's face. 

Call him slow, Boyd certainly would, but it somehow took this long for Raylan to stumble upon the likely conclusion that Tim’s incessant texting was to his boyfriend.

Unfortunately for his friend, that newly discovered information only peaks Raylan’s curiosity further and – on instinct, with a need to find out who this mystery guy is, - he makes a sudden grab for the phone.

He’s halted halfway by Tim’s sharp voice:

“You touch it and I’ll put a bullet in our guy's head and yours the minute I get a chance.”

Raylan knows that he probably would, too, and he wouldn’t miss. So, reluctantly, he lowers his hand with a pout.

Tim doesn’t even look up from his phone.

_______

  
Raylan is over by the coffee machine when it happens, most definitely not stealing one of Nelson’s cinnamon swirls left out on the counter.

A flash of blond weaves it’s way through the slight crowd, heading straight in the direction of Art’s office but suddenly stopping by Tim’s desk. Raylan peaks over someone’s head, only catching the person’s back for the moment – the intruder wearing a vaguely familiar jacket that Raylan couldn’t quite place in his memory.

Carefully pouring his freshly brewed coffee whilst keeping an eye on the guy, Raylan was more than a little shocked when he slipped round to the back of Tim’s desk – still somehow gone unnoticed by owner of said desk, who had his head buried deep in his current report. But what shocked him most was who the guy was.

Jimmy Tolan.

As in, Jimmy Tolan, the bartender at Boyd's place – also probably into some shady shit that Raylan neither wants to hear nor ask about.

Jimmy Tolan, the guy who is wrapping his arms around Tim’s chest and leaning forward as Tim leans back, wide smile visible from across the room as he tilts his head back when Jimmy moves in for a kiss.

Raylan is definitely not the only one to have noticed the unexpected display, but everyone quickly goes back to their own tasks – only a few casting curious looks at the pair. 

Grabbing his coffee, Raylan moves back to his desk, sending a look of disbelief in Rachel’s way - who just shakes her head with a smile. In all fairness, Raylan isn’t even sure she’s met Jimmy before so of course she wouldn't share his opinion on this new development.

“-for Boyd, but I’ve got a couple hours to kill and don’t fancy the long drive back just yet.” Jimmy finishes up just as Raylan slides into his seat on the other side of the partition between his and Tim's desk. Forcing himself to not look in their direction and flipping open a case file, Raylan manages to subtly listen in on the rest of the conversation.

“Oh yeah, we can grab lunch in a bit. Just let me finish this report up.” Tim smiles, typing away at his computer.

Jimmy hums in approval, pulling away just to duck back in to press a kiss to Tim’s hair before stepping away properly second time around. Grabbing a nearby chair, he swings it closer, throwing himself down into it and propping his feet up onto Tim’s desk. 

“Gross! I don’t need your disease-ridden boots up here.’ Tim complains, going to push them off, but Jimmy just laughs and blows a few kisses his way instead of moving them. “You’re impossible.”

“Don’t you know it, bebé.” 

“Shut it.”

“If you insist, darling.” Jimmy drawls with a smirk that softens into a smile to match Tim’s.

Raylan chokes on a mouthful of coffee, question after question bubbling up in his throat the longer he tries go keep quiet. Tim shoots him a suspicious look, one eyebrow perfectly raised in that condescending sort of way he manages to pull off flawlessly, and Raylan almost spills his thoughts right then and there.

That is, until a forceful cough grabs his attention and he meets Jimmy’s eye – smile now gone and replaced by a tense glare, his feet planted firmly back on the ground as he leans forward with his elbows propped on his knees. Raylan shifts his gaze back to his friend, focus yet again on his computer with an almost peaceful expression (that Raylan has come to recognise as only being present when he’s talking with a certain blond apparently).

Deciding against his impromptu interrogation, or at least thinking it can wait until a later date, Raylan chances one more look at Jimmy – the blond still staring him down with an almost daring look – before going back to his own work.

He can talk about it with Boyd tonight, anyway, he realises. He briefly wonders if Boyd already knows about it, but hopes that he doesn’t because if he’s seriously kept this secret from Raylan then he can think again about a peaceful night.

**Author's Note:**

> Boyd definitely already knew about Tim and Jimmy xD
> 
> Please let me know what y'all thought! Come scream about Tim/Jimmy on [Tumblr](https://a-beautiful-struggle-of-life.tumblr.com/) with me!! <3


End file.
